D-property targetted
MUMBAI: Seven illegal arcades in the Sara-Sahara shopping complex, widely believed to be owned by underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, were demolished on Saturday, weeks after the Supreme Court ruled against them.
Munim compound, near Mahatma Phule Market, was nothing less than a war zone on Saturday morning with BMC’s battalion of 300 labourers and 50 officers moving in with dozens of earth-movers, JCB and poclain machines. If any reserves were needed, there were 300 armed cops.
The task at hand was the demolition of the seven structures that form part of the Sara-Sahara complex at Musafirkhana, a stone’s throw from the Mumbai police commissionerate. As the demolition began at 7.30 am, the air was wrought with tension as every official and local reiterated that they anticipated some trouble or the other.
By late evening, most of the seven structures were razed to the ground without the slightest opposition. The remaining 10 % of the job will be done on Sunday.
The Mumbai crime branch had booked former assistant municipal commissioner Kiran Achrekar and three engineers under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for allegedly helping Dawood’s henchmen put up the shopping arcade. Dawood’s brother Iqbal Kaskar and others are facing trial under the MCOCA court in this case.
Of the total nine structures housed in Munim compound, the two controversial structures of Sara and Sahara had to be, ironically, left untouched. “The other seven structures that were razed down had come up without permission. So we could demolish them as soon as the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead. But as far as the two main structures of Sara and Sahara are concerned, they had come up with permissions from the building proposals department,” said assistant municipal commissioner V M Balamwar. Unless these permissions are revoked the two structures will remain unscathed, he added.
“We have been paying our rent, electricity and telephone bills regularly for the last seven years. Why couldn’t the BMC strike down these structures when they were coming up in the first place?
We have nothing to do with the underworld. Then why should we bear the brunt of it all?” said a mobile shop owner Sanjay Jain, who like several others still has no clue about where to shift his business.The shopkeepers in the wholesale market, a majority of whom are Gujratis, Marwaris, Sindhis and Punjabis with barely 20% being Muslims, are expected to meet on Sunday to discuss future plans.
Surprisingly, both the police and the BMC chose to play down their role in Saturday’s demolition. While joint commissioner of police Arup Patnaik said the police were merely providing support to the BMC in an area that is considered as sensitive, municipal commissioner Johny Joseph chose not to comment on the Dawood link.
Civic sources, however, confirmed that even these seven structures are allegedly owned by the underworld don. Although seven shopping arcades in what is loosely called the Sara-Sahara shopping complex were demolished, Sara and Sahara themselves were unscathed as they are housed in authorised structures.
The municipal corporation has now sought legal advice on whether these shops can be demolished.
URL- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1823637.cms